


Noie's Mother

by ToothPasteCanyon (DannyFenton123)



Series: Transcendence AU [28]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Gen, Selkies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27421426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DannyFenton123/pseuds/ToothPasteCanyon
Summary: "I need you to save my daughter."It's not always Leon who makes that deal. In alternate timelines not far from our own, where things are only a little bit different, someone else is shaking that hand.An alternate take on Noie's Brother where Leon, not Pinni, dies when Noie is a baby.
Series: Transcendence AU [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1472837
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	Noie's Mother

“I need you to save my daughter.”

One phrase, echoed through a thousand alternate timelines. One demon - or angel, god, creature unfathomable in this universe - seeing in this the promise of a life once had, long gone, dearly missed. One handshake, and the child named Noie (named Belle, named Ryan, named-) lived to see many more sunrises. In a universe of infinite possibilities, there are so few without this child growing old.

And who is on the other side of this handshake? Not always Leon.

After all, he’s not always the one who survives.

“T̸ha͠t ͡w͏ill̶ ̵ co̴s͢t ͟ y̷ou.”

“Then talk, demon.” Before the circle stood Pinni Argenta. Her leg was in a cast, her neck in a brace, but her voice did not tremble as she stared down the voided Dreambender. “I am a professional demonologist. Give me a price, and I will negotiate.”

The demon curled his lip at that - a professional, always harder to swindle. “V͖͉e̗̜͖̭r̷̹͚͇̹̜y ̼̼̞ͅw̭̰̪̖ͅe̠̠̩̺̜͎̘l̥͚l̴,” he snarled. “b͇̞̫̯̟̟̫u̳͓͇̲͕̣͍t ̘͉̜̬̻t̺̪h̞͔̥̞͇e ͚͙̺̱̰̣p̹rḭ̳͇c̠̞͉̮͍͚e͖ ̬m͚̹̲a͖͈̟̤͕̥y͇̖̜̪ ̫̮̜̺̻ͅbe̯ ̪͉̯hi̯͍̯̱̘̫̯g̙̥̫̬̙̟h̯e̘͕͚͔̬r ̟̣͍͍̜ͅt̺͍̪h̯͉͔a͕̱̟̘͇n̩͍̺ ̭̮͖̜y̺̩̠o̙͈̟̪̪̻u͍͉̹͉͓̺͎ ar̹̼̯̬̞̹͚e͖̙̠̜̳ w̬̰i̳̣̪̺̘̦̼l̥͔̹͙l͔͙i̠̻͚̯n̞g̻̜ͅ t͍̩̜o̠͓̺ ͙̭̟p̝̺̩̝̬a̫̺̘̼̳͓͎y̱̫̥̫̙͚.̯”

“Then get on with it. I can summon another demon-”

**“N͇͚͉̲̝̩͇O̠̮̣̘̼͍ͅ!̮** My͇ d͈͙̫͖e̖͓̖͙̻̻̮al̗͚̤̘!̯̳̰͇͔̼̮”

“Then tell me what your deal is, Dreambender.” She snuck a glance behind the hospital curtain, and then back at him. “Tell me now.”

Alcor gave a growl, but the sound faded out as it seemed to pick up on something. An unpleasant smile split it leaned in closer.

“I̘͓s̱ ̖̞̹̲th̦̼ͅa̙̠̜̮ͅt͓ d͙̙̪͇͕͚e̝͉̫̥̝s̩̥̪̰͍͈p͚͉ͅe̞̲̺rat̻̤̩̺̪̖̻i̪̦o͓̞̺̝̜͔͖n̠̱̖̩̟ ̟̬I̬̱ s̖̤̣̣m̪̳͉̲̯e̮̤̬ll͍͍?”

“Only annoyance. I don’t want to get caught by the human nurses around here. You don’t want me getting caught either - you won’t get a deal out of it.”

At that, the demon laughed. It was a rough, distorted sound, and it stepped out of the circle to pace around Pinni. “Oh, but it’s more than that, isn’t it? You can lie to me, little mortal, but I can smell it on you.” It took in a deep, deep breath. “Ah… sweet d͜es͟per̵atio͘n.͘ You may be a demonologist, but you don’t know how to barter for a loved one’s life. You’re o̕ut̶ of͠ ̸your d҉ep̧th.”

Pinni said nothing to that. She stared straight ahead, her expression made of stone for all it moved.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” It leered in close to let her smell the blood on its breath. “What was the deal again? Your s͟͠o͘͜u͏̧l͘ for the life of your child?”

“No. My soul is not negotiable.”

“Oh, you’ll be surprised what you’ll offer to me.” Alcor noticed the sealskin draped around her shoulders - reached for it, and grinned as she finally flinched away. “Selkie skin. A ḑe̢l͟i̸cacy̷. Yes… I’d save one of you for this. Where is the child?”

The demon looked at her soul, and followed her thoughts up to a ward upstairs, where…  _ oh. _

“You must think I’m a real amateur if you’re going to try and talk past me like this.” Pinni watched him go very still. “I will not under any circumstances offer you my soul, so you can forget about that and ask for something reasonable. I know you save lives for less.”

Alcor didn’t say a word. He didn’t move at all. She frowned.

“Alcor. Alcor.” A pause. “Fine, I’ll call some other demon. Go, you are released.”

“Mizar…” he said in an undertone. His head snapped up to the ceiling. “She’s in trouble! Dying!”

“Mizar?”

“I have to make a deal… you!” Alcor dropped the void from his form and stuck out a hand. “Make a deal with me!”

Pinni’s eyebrow quirked up; otherwise she hid her surprise well. “Not until we define the terms. Did you call my daughter Mizar?”

“Then make a deal already! What do you want!”

“For you to heal my daughter without hurting or otherwise altering her in any way, and without harming anyone else in order to draw the needed energy. And this healing cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked by you or by anybody.” She stared him down. “And after this healing is done, you are to leave her and me alone, and you are never to contact us again. What are your terms, demon?”

“M-my terms? I… I don’t want to leave her alone!”

“Come again?”

He backed away. “No, I… Wait, I need time to think! I need to-”

“Wait? I can’t wait, she’s-!” Pinni took a breath. “She is in critical condition. I have many things to offer you back at my office, but you have to decide now.”

“Now?”

“Or I’ll call another demon.”

_ “No! _ Okay, I-I’ll decide now, I-” he snapped his fingers. “I wanna do the Belle thing!”

“Define that for me.”

“I want to grow up with her!”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“You know, I can be… I can be her sister again!”

“So you’ve done this before.” Pinni leaned forwards. “That means you can be more specific about what you’re asking of me.”

“I- well, I… it’s complicated.”

He began to explain, and there were timelines where Noie’s mother rejected this outright. Where she demanded another deal, a more normal deal, and begrudgingly he complied. But here, now, Noie’s mother was Pinni Argenta, and she listened for a while without comment, without shooting it down, without giving a single indication of the plan she was hatching in her mind.

“So uh, yeah,” Alcor was saying. “I just, I erase all my memories and I grow up with her, and it’s like nothing even happened! You don’t have to do anything… except raise me, that is something, but… look.” He sighed. “I… I think I need this. I’m sorry, I know I came off a little, uh, intense. I didn’t - I would never have done that, i-if I knew you were trying to save a child.”

“Uh huh.”

“Just… give me a chance? Please? I really missed this, I really need her back. I need… That’s my only ask. I need her.”

Pinni stared down the demon before her. “That’s your condition for accepting the deal.” She stated, and watched him nod. “Okay. I have several conditions.”

“What are they?”

“My first condition is that you will not be a demon for the duration of this deal. You will not display any demonic memories or powers, no matter what happens.” She stabbed a finger at him. “If you want to make a mortal suit and pretend to be a mortal, you’re going to commit to that, and I reserve the right to revoke the deal in any circumstance where you aren’t complying.”

Alcor gave a nervous smile. “Uh, okay, I can do that. No demon powers, got it.”

“No. Don’t reinterpret my words. I didn’t just say ‘no demon powers’ - I want you to agree to the whole thing.”

“I agree! I agree to the whole thing.”

“Good.” She straightened her coat. “My second condition is that you will alter nobody’s memories. I will not be forgetting that you are a demon, do you understand?”

“Oh… okay. Lionel wanted to forget, though.”

She didn’t respond to that. “And one final condition. I need a house, somewhere outside any major human settlement area, next to a body of water. A lake.”

“What? How is that part of the-”

“Because you’re asking a lot of me, you know that! You’re asking me to raise twins, all on my own, in a shitty little human apartment! Leon and I were saving up for a down payment, but…” She clenched her teeth. “That’s not happening now. So if you’re going to make my life more difficult, you’re going to compensate me. Is that clear?”

Alcor made a face. “That’s… a lot, but… okay. That makes sense. Deal.”

“I want to be the sole owner, and you can’t take it back under any circumstances. I don’t care what it looks like, but it needs to be habitable for the three of us- I mean…” She blinked. “No, right, the three of us. Yes.”

“Anything else?”

“I only want to reiterate that none of this - not the healing, not the house, not anything - can be taken back if this ends up falling through on your end. You will leave the house without hurting either of us in any way.”

“Okay.” Alcor made a bit of a face. “I’ve made human suits before, this is okay. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“No, it shouldn’t be.” Pinni said, and then cleared her throat. “I am ready to shake on it, demon.”

At the sound of those words, the awkward, human expression vanished from the face of Alcor the Dreambender. The demon nodded, once, and extended a hand wreathed in blue flames. The light from it lent a cold, ghostly aura to the whole room; where it fell on Pinni, it drew deep shadows in her face, turned her eyes into pinpricks peering out from ashen sunken sockets. It was strange, how a little light showed both of them as monsterous.

Pinni didn’t hesitate for a second. She stuck her hand out, grasped Alcor’s firmly, and shook with practiced ease even as the flames licked up to her wrist. It was Alcor who let go first; he cleared his throat, and stepped back.

“So,” he started. “It’s done, then.”

“Nothing is done until you heal her.”

“Right… right! I’ll go do that now.” He hopped up and started levitating. “Then I’ll, uh, have to make preparations. I’ll see you next… after you get out of the hospital?” An awkward laugh. “As a… not like this.”

“That sounds like a good time to begin. Goodbye, Alcor.”

“Bye, uh… what’s your name?”

Pinni just stared at him.

“Uhh, oh, okay. Well, bye!”

He gave a wave, and then blipped out of existence, leaving Pinni alone.

_ Alone _ .

She started rubbing out the chalk with her good foot. A good demonologist never leaves an active circle lying around, especially in a hospital - stars, doing that was way dangerous for her liking. One wrong move, especially with an unbindable demon like the Dreambender, and…

Well. It was a good thing it didn’t go wrong. It went pretty amazingly, actually - he was surprisingly cooperative - but Pinni wasn’t feeling any rush of victory now.

“Ma’am?” A nurse’s voice. “Oh, what are you doing out of bed? Let’s get you-“

“Don’t touch me!” She limped away from him, holding one crutch up like a spear. “Get away from me, human!”

“You need to go back to bed. You shouldn’t be walking on that leg yet.”

“I’m going. You, stay there. Stay there!” She hobbled back over to her bed, glaring daggers into him. “There. I’m in bed. Now go, leave me.”

“Thank you. Were you trying to get something? You can always ask the nurse on duty if you-“

“I don’t need your help!  _ Leave me alone!” _

The nurse backed out of the room then, and she watched him leave with beady eyes, eyes that seemed to shine brighter and brighter until the shine broke off and ran down her face before she wiped it off with the base of her palm. She sniffed and gave her other eye another furious wipe, but then she felt her breath hitch and sob and and then she buried her face in her hands and cried and cried and cried all night for her family.

Because in this timeline, Pinni survives. She survives Noie, and she survives the car crash that cut her husband down right beside her, and she’s going to survive the strange deal she struck with a creature of darkness.

She does survive. She survives,  _ alone _ .

* * *

Pinni remembered very well her very first demonology course. Her teacher - he was a towering centaur called Professor Sader - walked in with his prosthetic arm in one hand, stood at the front of the class, and slammed it down on a student’s desk.

“Listen up! This is not going to be a fun class. You are not going to like me. Do you know why?”

She could still see him staring out into a sea of silent faces.

“Because one in seven demonologists  _ die _ before their fifth year on the job. Do you understand me? If I passed all of you, there would be a lot of fucking dead people in this classroom, so I won’t. Now  _ pay attention.” _

She thought about his words a lot during her stay in the hospital. She thought about it when that human nurse came back with a big smile on his face and good news about her daughter.

_ “Let me tell you the most important lesson a demonologist is ever going to learn. It’s not enough to survive a deal. It’s not enough to get what you wanted out of it. Ten times out of ten, you only think you’ve got what you wanted - you’ve gotten tricked. Even the best demonologist gets tricked, you can’t escape it.” _

Some days into recovery, Pinni was allowed to see her daughter. They brought Naomi in, placed her carefully into her arms, and the warmth of her little body, the softness of her sealskin, the  _ life _ in her eyes… it almost felt like everything was okay in the world, for this moment.

Almost, but then she remembered what it had cost.

What she was going to have to do.

_ “So you see, it’s not enough to go over your terms - it’s important, your life depends on it, but there’s a mindset you gotta get into in this business, and it’s that playing fair will get you nowhere with a demon. Nowhere.” _

The day she was released from the hospital, she walked out with two baby carriers. The nurses, the doctors, none of them who had seen through her recovery questioned it for a second. Nor did they question the new car idling at the front, with keys and the deed to a house sitting on the dashboard.

_ “You might think, if they don’t cause you much trouble on one deal, maybe you should be polite about it, be generous with your end, make them want to cut fair deals in the future with you. That’s how it works in our world, sure. But that’s not how it works in their world.” _

Pinni’s hands shook a bit as she started the car. It came to life with a roar, and in the back, one baby started to cry.

_ “If you’re making deals with a demon, you gotta act like a demon. Remember: these aren’t beings with emotion. Some of them’re easier to anthropomorphise than others, but even the most politest, suit-and-tie wearing, well-spoken demon, it’s got nothing going on on the inside.  _ Nothing. _ It’s got no feelings to hurt, understand?” _

She drove slowly. Carefully. The road she took went on for hours, bringing them out of the city, out of the desert, up, up, up until canyons and cacti gave way to pine trees. The sun was setting fast as she pulled off the highway, into a small collection of rickety stores quite a ways off from any town.

_ “All a demon wants is chaos. All they’re ever trying to do is screw you over, so you gotta constantly be thinking, how can  _ I  _ screw  _ them  _ over? It’s mean, people say. It’s also the only way to keep yourself safe.” _

She was thinking of those words as she walked into the store with her stoller. A human up front gave her a wave.

“Hey, welcome to Ricky’s magic shop! Aww, those are some cute-”

“I need powdered silver, angelic symbols, and scented candles.”

The man blinked. “Whoa, uh, that’s a shopping list. What do you need all that for?”

Pinni only reached into her bag and pulled out her Demonology license, which she placed on the counter.

“Oh. Okay… I was about to ask for that, but you’re - you’re way ahead of me, heh.” He stepped back. “I gotta fetch some of that outta of the safe. Hang on.”

Naomi and the demon started fussing while she waited. She took them on a gentle ride around the store, looking at all the shelves. There was some unicorn hair for sale - she snorted a bit at ‘responsibly sourced’ - and… what was this, yggsdrasil in with all the other herbs? This stuff could ruin a summoning, it needed to be stored separately!

She was not-so-subtly dropping the yggdrasil on the floor when the man came back.

“Okay, I got the- hey! What are you doing!”

Pinni left the carrier and started back towards the desk. “How pure is the silver?”

“Are you gonna pick that up? You can’t just-”

“Ninety five. Do you have anything purer?”

“Uh… no, we usually don’t, you know, sell a lot of this-”

“Then I’ll take half a pound.” She pulled out her wallet. “And the angelic symbols, do they come with a warded case?”

“A case? No, those are extra.”

Pinni glanced back towards the baby carrier. Even all the way at the other end of the store, one of them was starting to cry. She made a face.

“Fine, I’ll take one of those. Put them in now.”

“Uh, okay, your highness.” The man tried for a laugh as he put everything in a thick, dark case. “You from out of town?”

“How much does it come to?”

“No, seriously, are you? Just asking if you’re gonna be a regular here, so I can move.”

He laughed again as he closed the case. There was an edge to it, something that rang alarm bells in her head and set her heart beating fast. One hand came up, and grasped at her coat.

“You don’t need to know that.”

“No? I mean you come in here, you talk over me, you start throwing my merchandise on the ground like you own the-”

“Just let me pay.”

“Ohhh, now we don’t wanna argue.” That angry laugh again. He shoved the case at her and walked over to the till. “Fine, lady. Pay up, and get the hell out of my store, okay?  _ Okay?” _

“Okay.”

“There we are. Comes out to four hundred and twenty five with the case… a little ‘I’m sorry’ is free, though. Doesn’t cost nothing.”

Pinni took a deep breath, and picked out her card with shaking fingers. Both Naomi and the demon were starting to cry, and the sound of them and the look the human was shooting her and the hum of the air conditioning, it was all drilling into her brain and it was all she could do to remember how to swipe.

“Alright, there’s your stuff.  _ You’re welcome _ .”

She just grabbed the case, grabbed the stroller, and made for the door as quickly as she could. Both of them were screaming at this point; she took a moment, standing still outside her car, to  _ breathe. _

In, and out.

…

Only then did she look to the stroller.

“Hey, hey, hey,” she said, gently unclasping Naomi from her seat. “We’re nearly there. It’s nearly over, okay? You’re doing so well. So well.”

Naomi kept crying as she was strapped in; her little face had gone red, and tears were streaming down her face. Pinni looked at this, and then gently reached out, and grasped the little patch of sealskin sitting on her lap.

Just at the touch, Naomi gave a full-body shiver. She stared up with wide eyes as Pinni drew it close, close to her face, and breathed out. Warm air rustled easily through the fur - her coat was so, so dry, it hadn’t even been tried on yet, hadn’t ever been swum in. It didn’t really smell like much at all either, but for a faint, lemony-soapy smell that was nothing like the ocean… more like the hospital.

Pinni wrinkled her nose a bit at that, but Naomi seemed to have calmed down. Pinni carried it in her mouth as she strapped the demon in the other seat and put the stroller away, and then she set it down in her lap when she got in the driver’s seat.

Key in ignition. Another deep breath, in, and out. Turn. Cringe as it roared to life again - as soon as this trip was done she was going to burn this fucking thing.

It was dark when she finally turned down an old dirt road. The pine trees formed a tunnel as it led her down into the belly of the forest, branches reaching out like arms in her headlights. The bumpy road stirred Naomi and the demon again; they started crying, and she clenched the steering wheel until her knuckles went white.

Not long now. Not long now.

In an eternity, or a moment, the trees gave way to some wooded cabin bordering a lake. She could see the water glinting in the headlights, see the still, peaceful darkness beneath its lazy waves. More excitingly, she couldn’t see the other shore. It stretched out into the night, and for a moment, it almost looked like she had come across the shore of a great ocean.

It almost looked like home… but there was one thing left Pinni had to do.

She turned off the car. The screaming from the back seemed even more piercing without the background rumble; quickly, she grabbed her black case, opened the door, and went around to Naomi’s side. She let Naomi hold her skin while she was unbuckled; once it was all undone, she cradled her daughter close, and walked her to their new home.

Pinni walked her to the lake.

“Shh, shh, shh,” Pinni said, and squatted down by the shore. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

She hugged Naomi close for another moment… and then she held her out to the lake. Naomi was silent for a moment, confused; her foot touched the water, and she started crying harder.

“Okay. Okay. Is it cold?” She touched the water. “It won’t be too cold. Here, let me show you.”

She sat down, then, and repositioned Naomi so she was holding her with one arm. With the other, she took Naomi’s skin, stroked it with her thumb, and then, gently, dipped it into the lake. Naomi seemed to freeze as it soaked up the water; she gripped Pinni’s coat with her little hands, and Pinni smiled.

“It’s not so bad, see?” She kept moving it around in the water. “Your coat protects you, when you wear it. It keeps you safe. Keeps you warm.”

Gently, she drew Naomi’s skin out of the water. It was several times heavier, and dripping with water all over her lap… and Naomi reached out. Grasped it.

“It’s a part of you, Naomi. Your coat, and the water. They’re a part of you.” She smiled. “Do you want to put them on?”

She started to wrap Naomi up in the coat. Where it touched her skin, it seemed to stick, seemed to mould itself to her form without wrinkles or creases. She giggled and splashed around as Pinni lowered her into the water, looking up at her mother with a shine in her eyes and a fanged mouth gaping in a wide, innocent grin.

Pinni smiled back too, for a moment. Only for a moment.

“I have to do something.” She heard, behind her, the sounds of the one still crying. A sigh. “I’ll be back. I promise. I love you.”

Then she took a deep breath, in, and out, and placed her into the water. A second later she unbuckled the case, drew out the jar of powdered silver and sprinkled a line on the shore. She’d bought three angelic statues for their repelling energy; two she placed at either end of the line, and the third she held close as she approached the car.

The demon inside sounded like it was  _ screaming. _ Pinni stood there for a second, fiddling with her coat, thinking of how best to proceed… until she came to a decision. She circled the car and dumped silver in a rough oval until she got to the back door; there she opened it, chucked the angel statue inside, and then slammed it shut and bolted a good distance away. The screaming had gotten louder, rawer - almost like bellowing - but for a few moments, nothing really changed.

Hmm. Maybe she should set up the scented ca-

_ **BOOM!** _

The explosion nearly knocked Pinni off her feet. Shards of car went everywhere - some of them nicked her skin - and an even more deafening roar made her clap her hands over her ears. From the wreckage, a golden-bricked void crawled out, locked eyes with her, and snarled.

“ **S̴̢̰͍͈͈͎͙̣̬A̸̡͙̭͔B̭͍̫O̼͍͔̘͓̣̗͡T̹̙͇̱̕A̵̵͇̱̟̲̺̣G͡͏͏̫̪̙E̦̯!** ” Alcor growled out, and a second later he was looming over her. “ **W̪͙̯E̘̯ ̫̗̺̞̯͇H͔̪͚̯A̗̝D͈ ̲̤̹A̪͎̰̖͔̹͇̜ ̻̤̫͖̤̣ͅD̗͚̭̖̠̝͔̭E̪̥͎̝͈̥͙̖A̖̻L͍̭̮,͉̠̼̹ ̰͓̙M̭̲O̙̩̝̙͍R͔͉̝̩͉̮T͈͕̙͉̪͉̤̝A̳̼̮̳̟L̬̱̖̟̥!͔͍̯̤** **_H̶̴̗̻̬͉͜O̗̮̮̤̰̻͓̞̠̝̺̳͙͍͉W̷̧̢̦̰̯̣̜̲̬̳̲̟̬̲̕ ̦̟̯͎͈̻̯̺̗̫̞̟͈̣̭͓̥͟͡͠ͅD͏͖̣̥̩̰̺̰A̢͖̗̲̥͎͙͉̮̻̙̺̬͍͈̠̼̮̳͖̕͜͜͝R͔̤̖̭̖̘̪̼͘͘E̡̨̪̦͖̹͙̺̱̺̳͙̤̠̳͔͉ ̶̹͓̬͔̺̺̘̺͖͓͖Y͏̡̙̳͉͚O̡̥̪͖̠̰̣͓̰͢Ų̯͈̣̰̣͈̕ ͏̰̹̻̻͡ͅC̛̛͙̻̩R̦͇̤̰̰̙̦̭̟̼͙̕͡ͅO̷̷͔̟͎͉̯͜͢S̨̢͉̬̬̰͉̤̰̬̙̯S̤̜͉͕̹͙̫̹̣͔̭̬̖͜͟ͅ ̶͔̯͈̞̞̣͇͉̱̺̤͓̙͜M̸̶̡̗̥̥̘̘̦̭͔̕͠E̷̶͎̙͖̼͚̠̖̦̖͚̫̼̬͢͜͟ͅ!̞̳̘̭͎̫̙͓̜͇̭͍̰̥͍̱͇͈͉͡_ **

  
  
  
  


Pinni stood firm, even as the demon stared her down with murder in his eyes. “Yes,” she said, calmly. “We did have a deal. And according to it, you have to leave, now.”

“L̷̰̼͕̫̝͟͠E̶̡͉͎̣̬̫̙̭̞̭̬͙̼͙̫̩̻͈͠Ą̴̶̳̮̼̣̥͚̦̖͚̪͕͙͖͎͔͢V̷͍̣̮̹̲̫̹ͅE̵̡̮̮͙̬̰̝̥̦͢͜?̡̫̠͉̲̱̳͎͎̟̥̣͚̣͉̦̹ͅ ̛͝͏̟̪̖̪̜͉͙̖͙̺̯͉̫̝̙͞ͅ **N̛̫͕͚͚̦͙̰̘̲͖̝̼̖̰͈̠͘͡O̴̢͟҉̸̫̤̫̬̱͕̪͔̩̣̞ͅ!͖̬̱̤͙͠** ”

  
  
  


“you are bound to. And you are bound to do it without causing violence.” She watched the burning in his eyes shift to a hint of something else - a hint of uncertainty. “That’s what you agreed to. That if you showed any demonic traits-”

“B͎̜͇̞̙̝̠̭u̼̝͔̮̠ṭ̗͈̺ ̻͈͈̺̠̪̞y̳̘̖̯̰o͕̠͖͔͓u̘ ̮̙͓̩̰̰ͅf͎̩͕͇̟̗͇o̠̟̞̣̻̥̣r̗̟̳̬̞͈̬̥͍c̙̝̦̜e̮̥̞̗̭̤̲d͈̠̟ ̬̰̟͙m͉̥̻̦̻̹̘e̬͎͍͍͕ ̘̟̻o̲͖͔u͔̞t̬͔̮ ͈̭̗̘̬͈̪̩o̟͖f̟͙ ͈̺m͇͖̫y͔͕̱ ̣̙̘̘̹b͔̝͈̩̙͖͕o̫̘͓͙̱̱͙d͙̫y̤͔̬̤̠!̻̥̬̰ ͈̖̺ **Y̶̛̘̭̭̺͎͖̹͢o̶̧̮̹̙̖̯͔̼͉u̢̡̠͉̥͍͙̺͚̗͠ ̖̫͎̮͜͢s̸̘͉̠̘̮̦̮̞͝͡a̟̱̼b̵͏̙̻̤̟o̶̱͙̣̜t̵̷͓̯̮͕̘̳͢ą̤̠̭͎̗̣͍͖͜g҉̰̦̱͖̣͝e̗̣̘̬͙͈̟̞d҉̨̺͎̣͖ ̢̙̺͎̗͙͉̗m̪̦͕͘ͅe̘̠͕̙͈͎!̢̛̩̪̬̮͖̱̩͜”**

  
  


“But you did not disqualify sabotage when you agreed to this deal, did you? I asked you if you had any other conditions, and you said no. You agreed to something unconditional.”

Alcor spluttered. “B-͞b͞ut, w̢ai̸t-”

“There’s nothing to wait on. You need to leave, and never come back.”

“No! No, wait, please!” The void vanished from his form, and he clasped his hands together. “I know this deal was weird, but I swear, all I want to do is grow up with her! Please just give me another chance!”

Pinni just stared at him.

“I can - we can make another deal! Do you want a better house? O-or I can fix your car, I’m so sorry I broke it!” He reached out. “Just let me-”

_ “Don’t _ touch me.” She bared her teeth. “I don’t want anything from you - Naomi and I have everything we’ll ever need right here. We don’t need anybody, and we certainly don’t need a demon in our lives. So  _ leave. _ ”

“But… but…”

“You are bound to the deal.”

Alcor trailed off into silence; the only sound to be heard was the rustle of trees. The stink of oil from the still-smouldering car burned Pinni’s nostrils, but she kept staring at him, waiting for him to leave.  _ Never _ turn your back on a demon, she knew.

Finally, Alcor seemed to get it. In an instant his expression twisted into ugly fury, and he snarled at her before vanishing into black smoke. Only then could Pinni breathe.

It was over.

_ It was over. _

She stared at the twisted hunk of car before her, breathed in and out, and turned her back on it. Turned towards the lake, and its beckoning moonlit waves. She walked to its shores, and then beyond them, into the water, soaking her human clothes. It was freezing, but for a moment she stayed there, treading water with hands and feet, eyes closed.

To be in the water again, it was… wonderful. Her sealskin kept her back warm, and, after a moment, she let that warmth spread out and cover her entire body. She opened her eyes, and with a flick of her back flippers she swam over to where Naomi had been.

She nosed around that area, but there was no sign of her. She called out, and the most plaintive little noise answered her.

She was further down, on the lakebed. Gently, Pinni grasped the scruff of her neck and carried her up into the shallows. There she sat, huddled against Pinni’s side, staring out at the world with wide, wide eyes… and Pinni smiled.

Smiled, even as she looked at the old wreck of her car.

Because they had a home now, the two of them. They had a home without conditions, a home no human nor demon could take from them… and it was wonderful.

Naomi felt so warm, huddled up to her.

It was all they’d ever need.


End file.
